Interim Management Statement

RNS Number : 8559Z

Britvic plc

25 July 2008

 



Britvic plc ('Britvic') Interim Management Statement 25th July 2008

As part of its ongoing reporting calendar, Britvic today reports a strong revenue performance of £690.0m for the 40 weeks to 6th July 2008 ('the period'), an increase of 29.9% on the prior year. This includes a first time contribution from Britvic Ireland of £147.2m for the 9 months to 30th June 2008. 

GB and International revenues grew by 3.7% during the period, representing GB stills growth of 4.3%, GB carbonates growth of 2.5% with Britvic International growth of 22.3%. During the 3^rd quarter of the period, underlying GB and International revenues grew by 7.4%. 

In GB stills, Britvic materially outperformed the market during the period with volume growth of 7.8% against a Take-Home stills market decline of 1.2%. This outperformance reflects volume and value share growth in a number of key categories, including squash, juice drinks, water and sports drinks driven by strong in-store execution, increasing promotional effectiveness and the full roll out of Drench and Gatorade. GB carbonates also outperformed the market with volume growth of 2.6% against a Take-Home carbonates market growth of 2.2%, a result driven by a particularly strong Pepsi performance.

Whilst lapping the poor summer trading conditions of last year, the soft drinks market continues to show very low growth in Take Home and a further deterioration in Licensed On-Premise. Our strong presence within many of the leading pub operators provides Britvic with a good platform to maintain out-performance of the market. However, we anticipate that conditions in the Licensed On-Premise market will remain challenging.

Britvic Ireland's revenue grew 6.1% in sterling terms for the 9-month period, benefiting from exchange rate movements. Underlying euro revenues were down by 5.2%,with volume declining by 2.9%. Economic conditions in Ireland have become markedly more challenging in the last three months, driving a low to mid single digit decline in both the Take Home and Licensed On-Premise markets.  Britvic Ireland continues to maintain share in all of its key categories and achievement of the synergies within Ireland outlined at the time of the acquisition remain fully on-track. 

Raw material cost inflation remains a significant challenge for the sector with particular cost pressures in oil, PET and energy-driven inputs. Britvic now expects that raw material costs for the full year will rise by approximately 4.5%, marginally ahead of previous guidance. Additionally, looking forward into next year, Britvic anticipates further raw material and energy cost increases and is working to at least partially mitigate these increases through continued management focus on overall cost management and extensive Product Value Optimisation initiatives; designed to mitigate product costs. Helping to off-set the higher input costs in this financial year, Britvic now anticipates that the interest charge for this year will be at the bottom end of current market estimates.
Paul Moody, Chief Executive commented:

'This is another period of encouraging top-line growth and a sustained EBIT margin, in which our strong and resilient brand portfolio has performed very well in spite of continued challenging trading conditions. Looking forwards, although we anticipate rising input and energy cost pressures, our strong focus on cost control allows us to remain confident about the delivery of earnings in line with market expectations for the current year.'

For further information please contact:

Investors:
Craig Marks/John Gibney	[phone]
Media:
Tom Buchanan/Giles Croot (Brunswick)	[phone]
Emma Peacock	[phone]

Notes to editors

Britvic is one of the two leading branded soft drinks businesses in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The Company is the largest supplier of branded still soft drinks in Great Britain and the number two supplier of branded carbonates.

Britvic's broad portfolio of leading brands includes established names with high brand recognition such as Robinsons, Fruit Shoot, J₂0 and Tango in Great Britain, together with Ballygowan and Club in Ireland. Included within the portfolio are the Pepsi and 7UP brands in Great Britain & Ireland, plus Gatorade and V Water brands in Great Britain, all of which Britvic produces, markets, sells and distributes under exclusive appointments from PepsiCo. This brand and product portfolio enables Britvic to target and satisfy a wide range of consumer demands in all major soft drinks categories, via all available routes to market.

Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements

This announcement includes statements that are forward-looking in nature. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Except as required by the Listing Rules and applicable law, Britvic undertakes no obligation to update or change any forward-looking statements to reflect events occurring after the date such statements are published.

 

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